by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | August 01, 2014
From the August 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
He also sees customers taking new imaging equipment off of contract faster than they have in the past. “They’re looking for freedom of choice faster than they have in the past,” Probst says.
Learning from others
“For parts entities to survive and remain profitable they’re going to have to invest in high-technology,” says Charles Gauthier, executive vice president of service for Shared Imaging.
Gauthier says parts entities will need to be able to assess, repair, test and deploy high-tech circuitry. He believes they’ll also need to learn from other industries outside of health care and catch up to what other industries have been doing for years.
“I think what we’re seeing in health care in general is a shift away from pure technology or products into process, workflow and streamlining the service care that we all support,” Gauthier says.
Within the health care sector, Gauthier insists professionals need each other to be successful. “OEMs, ISOs, in-house — the days of flying solo have never really evolved. We have what I like to call “coopetition” or cooperative competition,” he says.
It’s not just OEMs taking a chunk of the market, it is health care organizations moving service in-house as well, but it’s rare that either situation happens entirely. Instead, according to Gauthier, people are looking for solutions that fit their needs under the most fact-based and diligently researched programs available that have been assessed for service and performance. “Any provider that can’t connect clinical and operational workflow and financial benefits will be at a competitive disadvantage,” says Gauthier.
Even in the future, Gauthier believes there will be no sole provider providing a sole solution. “It will be a blended model of shared risk without being a detriment to quality, with in-house, ISO and OEM each playing their part. All three of these providers will be measured on a performance basis to include financial penalties — whether operationally or capital-wise to that performance.”
One way everyone can work together better is to have all service contracts in synch. “We try to make all the service contracts possible in a conterminous structure. It enables them to not only plan to set aside the right team at the right time, it also makes it less likely they’ll miss a contract renewal or renew agreements they no longer need or that need revisions,” says Gauthier.
